Was cut from Castle, but will hit college links at Ottawa (Kan.) University

Cut from Castle High School's golf team, Ellsperman still earned a scholarship to play for Ottawa University, an NAIA school in Ottawa, Kan.

"It got kind of late to pick a school and my best friend (Schuyler Cooper) was going there and I loved the campus," Ellsperman said.

Cooper, who quarterbacked the Knights' football team to a Class 5A sectional title, earlier announced that he would continue his career at Ottawa. The fact that Cooper is attending Ottawa played a significant role in Ellsperman's decision.

"We had talked about going to college together for a long time," he said.

Cut from Castle's golf team in the spring of his junior and senior years, Ellsperman played for Plant High School's team in Tampa, Fla., in the fall of his junior year when he and his mother, LuAnn, lived in Tampa.

"Me and her moved down there together and moved back," Ellsperman said.

He was cut from Castle's team after a four-day tryout this spring.

"Then I just talked to Schuyler over spring break (about Ottawa) and applied there," said Ellsperman, who joined Cooper when he visited Ottawa. Ellsperman, who plans to major in exercise science, told the people in the admissions office that he played golf.

He then had a meeting with Ottawa golf coach Wendell Smith, who also is an assistant football coach there.

Smith wasn't concerned about Ellsperman not making Castle's team, saying that football is the only sport that you have to play on a high school team because there are no other options.

"He told me toward the end of a little meeting to give him the scores when I got back (to Newburgh).

"There were two weeks of rain, then I gave him two scores."

Ellsperman shot an 80 and a 76 at Quail Crossing in Boonville and that was good enough for Smith.

"Spencer is a great kid with a ton of potential," Smith said in a written statement. "We look forward to his development as a student and as a golfer."